Professional wrestling is seriously in danger of breaking into as
many factions as the world of boxing has deteriorated into.
I mean, come on! Who can name all of the current Heavyweight Boxing
Champions of the world?
I also wonder if anyone out there knows who is the current WWF, WCW,
or NWO champion?
More importantly does anyone really care?
I think I've got this right, but if I haven't don't pester me because
it doesn't really matter.
Top dogs for many years were the WWF (World Wrestling Federation).
That was until a certain WCW (World Championship Wrestling) star,
Hollywood Hulk Hogan (formerly plain Hulk Hogan in WWF), joined forces
with former WWF (World Wrestling Federation) star, Scott Hall (formerly
Razor Ramon in WWF), and former WWF (World Wrestling Federation) star
Kevin Nash (formerly Diesel in WWF) to form the NWO (New World Order).
Now, the NWO (New World Order) has nothing to do with the WWF (World
Wrestling Federation), not the WI (Woman's Institute), but is in fact
an organization within the WCW (World Championship Wrestling).
Although the NWO (New World Order) is marketed as a rival organization
to the WCW (World Championship Wrestling), all of the wrestlers within
the NWO (New World Order) are in fact employed by the WCW (World
Championship Wrestling).
There you go, crystal clear.

Genre

WCW (World Championship Wrestling) Nitro is a beat-em-up wrestling
game that includes some ex WWF (World Wrestling Federation) stars,
current NWO (New World Order) stars, past and present WCW (World
Championship Wrestling) stars, future WNCFW.....
Oh, let's just get on with it.
This is the PAL version of WCW Nitro.

Graphics

WCW Nitro opens up with a thunderous welcome in the form of a selection
of live action highlights showing characters, who I assume to be, stars
that appear in telivised wrestling. Of course not being an avid watcher of
this savage TV 'entertainment' I could hardly say that they are all
household names in my neck of the woods but I am sure that many of their
masks will be familiar to the millions of fans across the globe.
Having already witnessed the dour WCW vs the World I was pleasantly
surprised with the appearance of the digitally mapped characters in
Nitro. Their skin has a realistic glow to it while their faces look as
if photographs of their real-life counterparts have been wire mapped and
wrapped around the characters head.
Outside of the ring there is very little detail to report because the
baying crowds are nothing more than a few colorless cardboard cut-outs
that fade into a grey background mist.
The game's frame rate is quite decent during a one on one contest, but
the minute another character runs down the aisle to help out, the frame
rate drops way, way down. Adding a fourth character makes the bad situation
even worse.

Sounds and Effects

The game's sound effects are reasonable, although the commentary is
very sparse. The announcers remain fairly quiet although they occasionally
call out the name of a move or mention that someone is running down to
join the match.
On the musical side, all of the canvas thumping action is backed by the
obvious heavy metal guitar thrashing sounds that you would expect to
accompany this type of game.

Playability

WCW Nitro includes all of the standard options that one would come to
expect from a beat-em-up. Match lengths can vary between 3 and 10 minutes
with a side option for unlimited time. There are three modes of difficulty
and an option to include surprise attacks. These involve each player being
allowed to press the select button once during a bout to summon up help from
the dressing room. As soon as activated a new character will charge from the
dressing rooms, leap into the ring and begin smashing into your opponent.
These surprise attack fighters cannot be damaged but will eventually leave
the ring and return behind the scenes.
Gameplay modes include a selection of one and two player Exhibition matches,
Tag Team events and Tournaments. Tag Team matches are basically two against
two bouts where only one person from each side is supposed to be in the ring
at a given time but we all know better than that, now don't we?
Where Nitro differs from many other beat-em-ups is that you don't need to
have fast fingers to perform the more elaborate moves. On the joypad the
face buttons perform chops, punches, and kicks while combinations with the
action button will see your wrestler perform a multitude of amazing moves
and throws. Don't be fooled as there is still a bit of button pounding in
the game, but not nearly as much as most other wrestling titles out there.
While most of the action takes place within the enclosed ring it simply
would not be a wrestling game if the contestants could not enter into a
bit of rough and tumble on top of and outside of the ropes.
Initially there are 16 selectable characters including Sting, Lex Luger,
Macho Man Randy Savage, Syxx, Booker T and the awesome Giant. As you
proceed through the competition a further 30+ characters will unfold
ranging from the bizarre Ecto the ghost to the ridiculous Santa Claus.

Value for Money

Younger wrestling fans will love this game and will be glued to
their Playstations for many weeks while older gamers should go and do
something more interesting and worthwhile - like mow the lawn.

Graphically
the game is fine but the one major flaw within WCW Nitro is the
unresponsive control system. It seems to take an age to perform each
move, while moving the wrestler around the ring becomes an unwelcome
chore.

Don't get me wrong, this is by far the best wrestling game on the
Playstation, but then the rest aren't really up to that much either.